Parent Training, Shadow Support Training, Teacher Training and Lecturing

Parent Training

Parents who wish to learn more about the developmental issues and challenges that their child/children may be facing and how they can help their children improve and progress can attend personalised parent training sessions.

During the session, suggestions on the methods that usually work will be discussed in detail. Examples will be given. The parent/s will be guided on how to work with their child/children. The child/children will be in the session.

These sessions can be conducted at Language Loft or in the comfort of the parent/s’ home. It is better for it to be conducted in the parent/s’ home so that ideas on how to work with the child can be linked specifically to the home environment and the materials and people at home.

Parents can get together to form a small group so that the training sessions can include different types of children and the knowledge gained during these sessions will be wider. Discussions will also be livelier.

Shadow Support Training

I have shadowed my autistic son in mainstream preschools and a local primary school for 10 years. It is important to remain professional when providing shadow support to a child.

Parents, professionals or individuals who are keen to learn more about shadow supporting children with issues in mainstream schools can attend training in shadow support. Parents may also wish for the person whom they have engaged as their child/children’s shadow support to attend these training.

During the training, some of the topics that will be addressed include:

• the role of the shadow support
• the role of the class teacher and how to respect that role
• how not to be involved in the teaching of the class
• how to deliver the curriculum to the shadowed child
• how to encourage the shadowed child to socially engage with his classmates and schoolmates
• how to manage the behaviour of the shadowed child
• how to maximise time during school hours for the benefit of the shadowed child
• how to and how not to interact with the other children in the classroom or school
• how to set goals for the shadowed child
• how to write reports on the shadowed child
• how to provide feedback to the parent/s of the shadowed child and to other professionals
• how to conduct oneself in the classroom
• how to conduct oneself outside the classroom

The training can be conducted at Language Loft, at the home of the shadowed child or at the child’s school. However, part of the training should include time with the shadow person and the shadowed child in his/her school.

Teacher Training

I also conduct teacher training sessions.

This training is for schools who wish to equip their teachers with the knowledge and understanding of the different challenges that some children may face in school. The different types of disorders, learning challenges and behavioural issues will be explored. Suggestions on how these can be handled in the classroom and in school will be discussed. Examples from the school settings will be highlighted. Teachers will be actively involved in these sessions.

Training can be done in one session of two to three hours or they can be conducted over a period of a few days or weekly over a few weeks.

In 2016, I delivered the training on Managing Learning and Behavioural Challenges to a group of 56 senior teachers and teachers at The Learning Lab, Singapore, a renowned enrichment centre for school going children.

I continue to deliver adhoc guest lectures and teacher training sessions upon invitations and requests.

Lecturing

I was an Adjunct Lecturer for more than two years with Asian International College, Singapore. I taught the subject Advanced Studies in Language and Literacy Development to undergraduates who were taking the degree Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education. These students were principals and teachers of preschools, kindergartens and childcare centres. I also supervised the students’ research papers which focused on different areas related to early childhood development.

Areas of lecturing that I am interested and able to conduct are:

• Child development – which includes areas such as physical growth, gross and fine motor development, cognition, social-emotional and language progress.
• Child Language Development which includes the development of morphology, syntax, semantic, phonology, pragmatics and others.
• Developmental Issues and Conditions such as Autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Global Development Delay, Learning Disorders such as Specific Language Impairment and Dyslexia, and others. 
  • What the different issues are
  • What are the features of these conditions
  • How they affect the children in terms of growth and learning
  • How these conditions are addressed
  • Accommodations in mainstream environment for these conditions
• Development of Reading and Writing
  • Including testing alphabetic knowledge
  • assessing reading competencies in preschoolers
  • analysing reading errors
  • Handwriting Skills
    • developing the pincer grip for writing
    • the direction of the strokes for each letter
    • the fluency of writing from left to right
    • size of letters
    • style of handwriting
    • neatness of handwriting
    • adequate use of pressure when writing
    • fingers, wrist, hand, elbow and body posture when writing
• Integration and Inclusion of children with issues in mainstream school setting
  • This may include the modification of the mainstream currriculum
  • The addition of learning materials that may help the child
  • Reasonable, minor modifications of the class and school environment for the child
  • The use of a shadow support for the child including the role and goals of having a shadow support for the child